Colleen Michaels Announces First Poetry Collection

Colleen Michaels, Director of Montserrat’s Writing Center, is releasing a poetry collection! After years of wide publication and recognition, this is Michaels’ first published collection. Entitled Prize Wheel, the book will launch on January 21^st, 2023 from Small Bites Press. It will be available both digitally and in paperback.

“A prize wheel, for all its amusement and attraction, relies on chance and offers small wins against losing odds. In her debut poetry collection, Colleen Michaels skillfully and vividly examines the joy, consolation, luck, and con always in play when she heeds the call to ‘step right up’ in matters of work, family, illness, and intimacy. A winning collection filled with risk and reward, Prize Wheel imagines a world where ‘…it should matter/the belonging of one/to the other.’”

Early praise for Prize Wheel describes the collection as “so perfect, true, details, and moving that you don’t want to put it down;” full of poems that “stay with you for a long time because they look at the world with such clear and loving eyes;” and “surreal, wildly real, and unflinchingly honest”

Michaels was born in Waltham, MA and graduated from the University of Buffalo and SUNY – Fredonia. Her poetry has not only been widely published but has made it into public installations for the Trustees of Reservations and the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. In addition to her work as Montserrat’s writing Studio Director, Michaels serves on the board of trustees of Beverly Public Library and is the creator of the Improbable Places Poetry tour.

Upon release, Prize Wheel will be available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and—most importantly—your local bookstore.